A contract dispute over who has rights to distribute Billabong in Indonesia is stalled in Australian court, according to a story on Goldcoast.com.au.
One Indonesian employee is currently on trial for alleged embezzlement of Billabong-branded advertising ‘light boxes’ while Gold Coast man Chris James is confined to Australia after an Interpol alert based on the same charge was issued for him by Indonesia earlier this year.
The contract dispute case was going to be heard December 8, 2009, in Supreme Court in Brisbane however, Bali-based Suzi Suweda’s barrister was not available, the story says. “Billabong is seeking a court declaration that the contract with Mrs Suwenda’s company was legally terminated.”
Whistler sure seems to be having fun with its lift towers lately. On Sunday December 6, 2009, the Big Red Express lift was stopped and 100 people were evacuated after “a device on one of the towers fell off,” according to a story on The Province.
Here’s what Dave Brownlie, president of the Whistler-Blackcomb ski resort said:
“We had lift maintenance personnel inspect the situation,” Brownlie told The Province. “They determined that it was then safe to run the people off the line. . . He described the broken part as “a compression mechanism” that is installed on some towers to keep pressure on the top of the cable as it passes over rollers on the tower.
This is just the latest in a series of lift problems at the mountain over the past year. A drive motor failure on the Peak 2 Peak last April caused an unscheduled closure, a “broken bolt” stopped Blackcomb’s Harmony lift last February, and a “partial lift tower collapse” on Whistler Blackcomb’s Excalibur Gondola in December of 2008 resulted in several minor injuries.
Nope. It’s not another story on Tony Hawk. This Investors.com interview is with former pro skateboarder Jeff Thompson about how he used all the lessons he learned in skateboarding to build a successful internet service provider business in Rhode Island.
To compete and gain sponsors, I had to skate four to six hours a day. It took passion. When you don’t feel like practicing, you can’t say no. You need that same dedication with an emerging technology to get from zero revenue to the Nasdaq. . . If you worry too much about the whole routine as you drop into your first ramp, it can add to your anxiety. It’s better to focus on one trick at a time and do it right.
On Friday December 5, 2009 Agenda co-founder Aaron Levant and The Berrics co-founder Steve Berra announced (not without some hyperbole) a “revolutionary partnership” in which a “brand new section dedicated to skateboard brands” would be added to the January 8-9, 2009 Agenda Show in Huntington Beach. Agenda promised to “travel and accommodations” to all 61 shops listed on the Berrics Unified skate shop listing.
Then this morning (December 7, 2009), Blackbox Distribution owner Jamie Thomas announced (not without some hyperbole) a press release in which the Crossroads Retail Show and ASR have teamed up to present the “ultimate skate focused retail show” which will be added to the February 3-4, 2009 ASR Show only it will be held outside in the parking lot of Petco Park. Without promising “travel and accommodations” Crossroads is “committed to making sure that 100 of the nation’s key retailers. And what do you know, “space is limited.”
We have to wonder what happens to the entire trade show business model when they have to pay retailers to attend. Lord knows retailers need to be treated well these days, but it still seems to bring us back to the question that’s been plaguing the boardsports business for several years: are trade shows even relevant anymore?
Follow the jump for both press releases.
[Editors’ Note: Turns no one said Jamie’s press release was “all-encompassing statement.” We have removed the erroneously attributed quote from the above post.] [click to continue…]
In a meeting with employees yesterday (December 3, 2009) in the offices of DC Shoes in Vista, California the parent company Quiksilver announced that they are moving the entire DC Shoe business to Huntington Beach, California according to sources familiar with company. The move will reportedly happen in the next six months.
This news has many San Diego County employees wondering how or if they’re going to be able to make the hour and a half commute once the move is complete. And to think, the new vert ramp that Colin McKay and the boys designed is only weeks away from being complete.
We’re sure there will be more to this stories. We’ll keep our ear to the grind and let you know.
Wonder how Quiksilver shareholders (and former employees) feel about this little line from a Globe and Mail story on how Rossignol has pulled their company back from the brink of bankruptcy.
For a company that has shed 20 per cent of its work force and narrowly escaped bankruptcy, opening a glitzy new headquarters might look like corporate vanity. . . Not so for Skis Rossignol SA, says new chief executive officer Bruno Cercley, who hopes the glass-fronted new building will motivate staff as the 100-year old company tries to turn the page on recession by focusing on core ski brands.
Guess that page turning thing is easier to do after letting another company take the fall for you. . .
When a Japanese company (Phoenix’s X-Nix) purchased the rights to dress the 1998 United States Olympic Snowboard Team Burton Snowboards thought that the whole idea of a “uniform” for snowboarders was a terrible idea. In fact, they said that it went against everything that snowboarding stood for.
Now that Burton is been the official snowboard team supplier for a second Olympics things are a quite different, according to a story in the New York Times.
“Board sports, for the most part, are about expressing individuality — that’s what makes them cool,” said Greg Dacyshyn, the company’s creative director. “So the whole uniform thing, you know, it’s a sensitive subject.” . . . “The inspiration was sort of that classic Americana look: the plaid blazer and old jeans,” Dacyshyn said. “Yeah, it’s a uniform, but it’s also an anti-uniform at the same time.”
But more importantly, the uniforms now sport a couple Burton logos. One thing is for sure: these uniforms are going to look real smooth behind gold medals.
A graphic from Billabong’s “comrade” T-shirt series is stirring up some trouble with a group of Australian Croats, according to a story on Javno.com.
The front of the disputed T-shirt contains emblem that combines the five-pointed star with what remarkably resembles the Croatian coat of arms. . . Behind the five-pointed star is a grain wreath that resembles the iconography which, in Croatia, is commonly associated with the communist Yugoslavia. Behind a checkered coat of arms is an eagle wing, which after a brief observation, may be correlated with the eagle on the Serbian coat of arms.
Natalie Drazic a spokeswoman for the Sydney’s Croatian Youth organization reportedly contacted Billabong but was not happy with the response she got from the company. “Natalie Drazic and the SCY management urged all Croats to boycott products made by the Billabong Company until further notice.”
A little controversy never seems to hurt T-shirt sales.
Same store states at core mall retailer Zumiez fell 8.5 in November, according to a story on Reuters.
Analysts on average expected same-store sales at the retailer to fall 8.2 percent, according to Thomson Reuters I/B/E/S. . . For the four-week period ended Nov. 28, total net sales fell 1.8 percent to $32 million.
Not really sure what is going on here. But that appears to be Jake “Fall from the sky” Brown and Pat Duffy. As Bryce Kanights said on Skatedaily.net, “What the hell.” It’s certainly no Gymkana 2.1.
A contract dispute over who has rights to distribute Billabong in Indonesia is stalled in Australian court, according to a story on Goldcoast.com.au.
